Hey carl,
I am thinking that the only thing that can help my incredibly weak throws is to learn to snatch properly.
Where might an old fat neophyte have access to free training vids and instruction?
Mj, snatch will help, but throwing a lot helps more, especially when you are starting out. Just be careful, because throwing will put you in unusual positions, and with your strength, you can really tear things ups. So soft and easy at first. The first year after getting back into throwing (about 8 years ago) was a series of throwing related injuries, until finally I got strong in the right places and I quit trying to make my body do improbable things.
Speaking of throwing, yesterday morning I went down to Las Vegas to throw, and just now, 32 hours later, I’ve gotten home. Some idiot let a campfire get away from them and set the forest on fire about 1/2 mile from our house. They evacuated the town and wouldn’t let anyone up. Met my wife at the bottom of the hill and spent the night at a friends house. in Red Rock. Throwing went pretty good, except I broke my hammer after just two throws.
Are you feeling any better yet?
Yes, Mj, doing pretty good now. I was in Ohio visiting the inlaws last week, took a side trip with my daughter to New York City to see a concert and spent a lot of time sweating and riding the subway in the wrong direction. Would have done fine, but the one train I needed was down for construction. Got two lifting workouts in during the stay, Cleans to 107.5 and 3’s week on bench, 68x8 for the money set, then snatches to 90 (just missed 92.5) and snatch grip deads to 97.5x8, each workout followed by sprints. Did some throwing today, and finally have a clue about how far I should be throwing for the HG in August. Thanks for checking in.
Seen this. Rob turned fitty this year. Rob 54'2" national best 50yr old division - YouTube
So what do you think you should be throwing?
Nice sound effects. I can’t manage a sound while throwing.
Stones: high 30s (16 lb), high 20s (22 lb)
WFD: 45 - 50 (28 lb), 25 - 30 (42 lb), ~20 (56lb, I fall over just picking the darned thing up)
Hammer: 65-70 (16 lb), 50-55 (22 lb)
WFH: ~10ft (42 lb), ~0ft (56lb, haven’t even tried this yet)
Caber: I might be able to pick it up and carry it a ways.
Spent most of the day tracking down parts and building HG implements. Found a recently downed tree that I turned into a caber. It’s green and heavy right now, about 150 lbs, but short. It broke the first time I threw it so it went from 18’ to 13’ rather quickly. Threw it seven times. On my best throw, the last, I was able to pick it up, balance it, run, and toss. The end I was holding ended up pointing straight back at me for a totally imperfect score of zero. One hell of an upper back workout. Those muscles are still screaming at me an hour later. The kids made their own cabers from the scraps and did considerably better than me.
i keep hoping to get my hands on an old telephone pole to use, but I haven’t worked the caber or any of the stone tosses, just been playing with the hammer and the weight.
Thats some fine HG work there, nice training.
Thank Joe. It’s FUN! And makes you think too. After 20 throws and you can barely stand up, you are thinking, “What if I did this one thing different?” 20 can turn into 30 very easily.
MJ, if they weren’t so damn awkward, I’d bring a couple cabers up to you in August. They are all over the place by my house, especially after the fire. Killed a bunch of trees, but didn’t burn them up.
Ordered my kilt yesterday, got it today. Entry form is in the mail, so it looks like my first HG will be 8/28 in Wellsville, Utah. The damned kilt doesn’t make me look anywhere near as sexy as I was led to believe. I guess they can only do so much. But it does seem pretty good for throwing in.
Looks like some fun new stuff going on in here,
how does the kilt play into ugly goes farther?
kmac, you’ll have the answer to that once he exposes his knees to us.
Did you buy a sportkilt? I didn’t have the cash, so I found a company called “stillwater kilts” that did a xxxl kilt with the Marine Corps tartan for $30. The same kilt at sportkilt would have cost $100. This was the “economy kilt”, so it is obviously cheap as shit.
I just got a book called “Olympic weightlifting : a complete guide for athletes & coaches” by Greg Everett. I learn well from books, and I am hoping to get better at the oly lifts. I have always wanted to get serious with them, but it took my interest in highland games to provide a sufficient excuse. wheeeeeee! fun
Don’t know yet Kevin. I threw hammer once with the kilt on and it went about 15 feet further than my previous best, but that might be a case of downhill throws far as opposed to ugly throws far.
Yeah John, I bought a Black Watch sportkilt, large was $69. I haven’t read it, but I hear good things about Everett’s book.
It’s been lots of throwing mixed with a little bit of weightlifting for me. No time now for details if I want to get in some caber tossing before a thing for my daughter this evening.
Go get em, Carl, give us a full report when you get a chance.
Finally got the caber turning, 4.5 turns out of 8 attempts last time out. Its just a baby caber, but its a start.
Back in April, before I went and watched the HG that was held here in Las Vegas, I didn’t know much about Highland Games. I knew that they throw a bunch of heavy stuff around, but didn’t know too many of the details about what and how. I knew that Harry and a few others that post here competed in these games, and that’s about it. For those of you that are interested, My next few posts will be about HG, what is thrown, my understanding so far as to how its done, etc. Those of you that know better, please correct me where I’m wrong.
Highland Games, or Scottish Heavy Athletics as it is also referred to, consists of nine different “games” as they are called. These are caber (probably the game best associated with HG), sheaf toss, weight for height, and then both heavy and light versions of hammer, weight for distance, and stones. As I understand it, HGs can have as few as 5 of these events, as long as at least 2 of the events: caber, sheaf toss, and weight for height, are included, and can have up to all nine of the games contested. The usual method of determining the winner is is to award points for place in each game, 1 for first place, 2 for second, and so on. The points for each game are added, with the lowest total being the overall winner.
The participants are grouped into different classes depending on experience and ability. Larger Games will have Novice, C, B, A, and Pro classes, Masters classes split up by age, 40-44, 45-49, etc, or sometimes 40-49, 50-59, and also a lightweight class for us little guys, with a weight limit that varies between 185 and 200 pounds. There are also different classes for the women throwers, but I’ve rarely seen more than B, A, and Masters classes for women. There are some unofficial standards of height or distance in each game that serve as a guide for which class you should enter.
There is a dress code. All participants must wear kilts. Just what, if anything, they wear under the kilts, well… you’ll have to find that out on your own.
Well a Scotsman clad in kilt left the bar one evening fair
One could tell by how he walked that he’d drunk more than his share
He fumbled round until he could no longer keep his feet
Then he stumbled off into the grass asleep beside the street
About that time two young n’ lovely girls just happened by
One says to the other with a twinkle in her eye
“See yon sleeping Scotsman so strong and handsome built,
I wonder if it’s true what they don’t wear beneath the kilt.”
They crept up on that sleeping Scotsman quiet as could be
Lifted up his kilt about an inch so they could see
And there behold for them to view beneath his Scottish skirt
Was nothing more than God had graced him with upon his birth
They marveled for a moment then one said, “We must be gone.
Let’s leave a present for our friend before we move along.”
As a gift they left a blue silk ribbon tied into a bow
Around the bonnie star the Scot’s kilt did lift and show.
Now the Scotsman woke to nature’s call and stumbled towards the trees
Behind a bush he lift his kilt and gawks at what he sees
And in a startled voice he says to what’s before his eyes
“My friend I don’t know you’ve been but I see you won first prize.”
Lyric by Mike Cross
Carl,
are you still coming out to the wellsville highland games? I will be there in a green dress with an EFS shirt.
Thanks for the poem Wilson. An older friend of my wife was kinda obsessed about this issue. This gave her a chuckle.
John, I’ll be there. Entry form sent in, travel arrangements made, and for once my wife is interested in coming along. I’m colorblind, so I’ll focus on the EFS shirt part. I don’t know what color my kilt is, but I’ll be wearing a Masters Weightlifting shirt. You probably also know what I look like from the videos I’ve posted.
Been lifting a little (twice a week following 5/3/1 still with olifts to warm up) and practicing for the highland games a lot, throwing 3 or 4 times a week. Will get some caber in tonight with my new 84lb 16’ aspen caber (haven’t turned it yet but have gotten close a couple times) and some sheaf. Tomorrow I’ll do some line drills with light and heavy wfd, and try to get a few bugs worked out of my spin on wob. Rest on Friday, then games Saturday.
sounds like you’ve been doing some serious prep. which group are you throwing in. I’m in the 40 masters, so I get to throw the tiny weights.
You seem to be able to remember why you’re lifting better than I do. Need to get my butt out of the weight room and out throwing more. Sounds like your ready for you’re games. You’ll to great. Feel confident about spinning for the WOB? I may try it with a 42 but know way with the 56.